Poetry Writing | Writing Forward

Writing Resources: A Poetry Handbook

This post contains affiliate links that earn commissions from qualifying purchases. Poetry is the music of language, the fine art of the written word. It demands a broad vocabulary and creative thinking. It promotes rhythm and meter, and it invites imagery. Poetry engages the imagination, stimulates the intellect, and touches the heart. Reading and writing poetry…Read More

From 101 Creative Writing Exercises: Rock and Rhyme (Poetry)

Today’s post features an exercise from my book, 101 Creative Writing Exercises (aff link), which is filled with exercises for various forms of writing, including fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction. It will inspire you while imparting useful writing techniques that are fun and practical. This exercise comes from “Chapter 8: Free Verse.” The creative writing exercises in this…Read More

A Handy Book for Poets – Poetry: Tools & Techniques: A Practical Guide to Writing Engaging Poetry

This post contains affiliate links that earn commissions from qualifying purchases. I have found it quite challenging to find good books on the craft of poetry writing. My favorite resource, which is also the most comprehensive, is Perrine’s Sound and Sense. But that’s a costly book because it’s used in college-level poetry courses. For years,…Read More

Poetry writing exercises in time and space

Poetry Writing Exercises in Space and Time

Poetry is the most artistic form of writing. A poem can be concrete or abstract. It can be expressive or pensive. It can cover just about any subject imaginable. But despite what poetry can be, it is most often used as a form of emotional self-expression, especially by young and new poets. When we’re feeling…Read More

What Makes a Good Poem?

In the world of art and entertainment, everything is subjective. Millions of fans loved that blockbuster film that dominated theaters a couple of years ago, but maybe you found it lacking in substance. Maybe some of the great works of literature you were forced to read in school left you wondering why they were considered…Read More

All-Natural Poetry Prompts

Throughout the centuries, poets have composed meditations on seasons, landscapes, and constellations. Vegetation and animals have been the subjects of countless poems, and even when poetry is not centered around nature, it often makes references to it. In poetry, nature can function as a backdrop, or it can hold center stage. Why are so many poets…Read More

Poetry Writing Exercises to Engage the Senses

Ah, the senses: sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch. How do they relate to poetry writing? We delight in the pleasures of the senses, but infusing poetry with sensory stimulation is not an easy task. It takes a deft and creative writer to forge images — using text — that engage a reader’s senses. So…Read More

Family-Inspired Poetry Prompts

Writers are always looking for new ideas. Sometimes we look so far and wide for inspiration that we’re oblivious to what’s right in front of us. They say, “You can pick your friends, but you can’t pick your family.” In life, we are presented with many choices, but family is not one of them. It’s…Read More

Improve Your Writing with Poetry

In the world of writing, one form stands out as different from all the rest: poetry. Poetry is not bound by the constraints of sentence and paragraph structure, context, or even grammar. In the magical world of poetry, you can throw all the rules out the window and create a piece of art, something that is…Read More

Five Poetry Prompts

You know what’s great about writing prompts? On those days when you’re feeling uninspired but you want to write, they’re there for you. On days when you want to get your writing practice in but don’t particularly feel like writing, they’re there for you. Writing prompts give you a little push to kick-start a writing…Read More